Manitowoc proposed budget includes tax increase

Mayor Nickels 2015 budget increases tax rate almost 2 percent

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City Planner Paul Braun and an environmental engineering consulting firm are developing preliminary design plans for a river walk along the east bank of the Manitowoc River downtown by the peninsula.
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MANITOWOC – Mayor Justin Nickels proposed 2015 Executive Budget includes a tax rate increase of 1.96 percent that would translate into the city portion of property taxpayers' bills increasing from $773 to $788 on a home assessed at $100,000.

Nickels unveiled his spending document at Monday evening's City Council meeting.

"The budget follows the five-year plan we set into place last year ... aggressively paying down our debt, re-organizing in areas of need and focusing on maintaining services," Nickels told council members.

He said his budget began with a $1.2 million shortfall between deficits going into the year and increased department requests. Nickels said his budget closes the gap and is balanced.

Nickels said borrowing is set at $2,497,515 and falls within the promised $2.5 million dollar maximum under the five-year plan. He said the city would be paying off some $8.1 million in principal on past debt and $1.7 million in interest for a total of $9.8 million in overall debt reduction.

"This maintains our goal of cutting our overall debt by half by 2018," Nickels said. "The city will have roughly $50 million in overall general fund debt by the end of 2015, down from $75 million in 2009 ... the height of our overall debt."

Other budget and policy proposals by Nickels, subject to endorsement by the City Council, include:

• The number of fire department union employees will remain the same, dependent on union negotiations. Nickels is recommending eliminating the three battalion chief positions and creating one new deputy chief position.

• The fire department will oversee housing inspections with the Building Inspection Department. "There is not a new position created in the Building Inspection Department as I originally hoped for," he said.

• Nickels said the city's allocation to the Manitowoc Public Library would remain the same as this year: $1,370,425.

• The Manitowoc Family Aquatic Center's tax levy support would be $64,470. "Due to funding gaps, the aquatic center may need to close earlier than expected to meet budget numbers," Nickels said.

• There would be no layoffs or furloughs for any city department, except potentially the library per discussions with its board of directors.

• The budget includes the 2015 scheduled loan repayment to Manitowoc Public Utilities of $863,074.

• The room tax budget includes improvements to downtown including new banners, signs and other amenities, as well as funding for all special events held in the city.

• Existing City Hall workers would fill a customer service position at a customer service desk and help during peak times for departments with responsibility for elections, tax collection, building permits and other duties.

"We have made great strides over the past few years to get a handle on our debt, control our spending and increase revenues to meet the needs of the community," Nickels told the council.

"We have ended an era of massive debt and spending and entered an era of debt reduction, controlled spending and mapping out a course to once again be able to invest in our community without massive tax increases, drastic cuts to services or relying on increased debt year after year," Nickels said.

Nickels stated the approximately $275,000 associated with the tax increase is going to debt reduction as state law does not, except under certain circumstances, allow the city to raise taxes for general operations.

The Finance Committee will take its first detailed look at the budget at its 5 p.m. Tuesday meeting.

Nickels will host two public listening sessions for citizens wanting to ask questions and voice concerns on Oct. 22, from 10:30 a.m. to noon and another beginning at 6:30 p.m.

The mayor is hoping for final budget adoption at the City Council meeting on Nov. 17.

Green Bay hire

In other council decisions and deliberations:

• A city planner for Green Bay, Nicolas Sparacio was hired to be the city of Manitowoc's Community Development director beginning Oct. 20 with an annual salary of approximately $88,000.

He has played a key role in development projects in downtown Green Bay including Schreiber Foods, Associated Bank and Titletown Brewery.

Sparacio said it would be a "great challenge" that he looks forward to in trying to generate redevelopment at the abandoned downtown Mirro manufacturing plant site, as well as at Lakeview Centre, former home to J.C. Penney.

He also will tackle the problems and opportunities linked to the economic revitalization of downtown Manitowoc.

Council members urged Sparacio to take advantage of the resources and expertise of Progress Lakeshore and strengthen the relationship with the economic development organization, which receives an annual city budget allocation of about $68,000.

• No money will be spent anytime soon but Paul Braun, city planner, and AECOM consultant Terrance Peterson gave a brief overview of a preliminary design and engineering study for a riverwalk along the east bank of the Manitowoc River by the peninsula.

The study is intended to be the first in a multi-step, multi-year process to:

• Stabilize the shoreline of the river.

• Improve storm water run-off and the water quality of the river.

• Enhance and/or create wildlife habitat.

• Provide additional public access to the river including accommodations for pedestrians and bicyclists.

• Develop what AECOM calls, "a vastly underutilized area of the city in a manner which builds upon the city's strong nautical heritage."

Initial designs of the 2,200-foot section call for various options with price tags ranging from about $4.8 million to $10.6 million. The city's responsibility would be anywhere from 50 to 80 percent depending on potential support from taxpayers across Wisconsin and the U.S. via state or federal funding sources for different aspects of the project.

Peterson said the "first shovelful of dirt" might be turned in the next 18 to 36 months depending on grant application success and city budget allocations with an eight-to-nine-year time frame for total implementation.